A British salesman has been accused of selling a stolen Richard Mille RM 11-03 Limited Edition watch worth more than Dh572,000 to a businessman in Dubai.
Based on court records, the limited edition watch was among the 12 Dh4-million-worth watches owned by another British man that were stolen from his apartment in Palm Jumeirah, reported The National.
Two masked thieves trespassed the man’s apartment while he was outside and threatened his 25-year old brother and a Filipina maid using sharp weapons.
The Filipina maid said she was in the bathroom when a masked man abruptly opened the door and pulled her out in the room.
Both frightened, the man’s brother and maid stayed in the bedroom until they realized that the thieves had escaped.
“I immediately called my brother who owns the apartment. When he arrived, he checked his bedroom on the second floor and found his 13 valuable watches had been stolen,” said brother.
When the watch was stolen from the victim, he said that it was valued between £130,000 (Dh624,000) and £135,000 but weeks after it was stolen, its market price surged to £160,000.
The thieves are still at large but police were able to track down the watch in the possession of a Jordanian businessman based in Dubai who said that he had bought the stolen watch from a British salesman for Dh572,000 on May 8 this year.
The police arrested the salesman in September, who said he was in UK on May 8, but was discovered to be untrue.
He denied the allegations during his hearing at Dubai Criminal Court. The next hearing is slated on November 14.
